Major text issues during login and char creation!

[LeoKmari]

I'm new to this game, downloaded it out of curiousity. It kinda reminds me of EverQuest, but anyways...

On the login screen and character creation screen, the texts are almost 100% unreadable. I've tried changing resolutions in the options, as well as between Full Screen and Windowed Mode to see if it would improve. All attempts between resolutions and the Full Screen / Windowed Mode failed... I would like to know if there's a way to correct this. Are there any patches, or config files that I could access to modify to fix the issue? (I'm not a genius at modifying configs, nor would I know what program to open them up with, so bear with my newbishness).

Please help asap. I'd really would love to try this game out. Thanks. 

No thread titles in all caps please.

[Karyuu]

Hiya, and welcome to PlaneShift and the boards :}

My first suggestion would be to make sure that you have the most recent drivers for your graphics card. If you're unsure of what card you have, right-click anywhere on your desktop, hit Properties, go to the Settings tab, and look under Display. You should see "suchandsuch monitor on [card]." Go to the manufacturer's website then (nvidia.com for Nvidia GeForce cards, ati.com for Radeon, google if you're unsure) and download the most recent driver version.

If you could perhaps post your system specs for us as well, that would help out.

[LeoKmari]

First off, I apologize for the all caps for the title of my post. Thanks for fixing it.  Also, I have an NVIDIA TNT2/TNT2 Pro graphics card (it's kinda old school, so is my PC, I got Windows 98. As for specs, well...I have an AMD Athlon processer, with 256MB RAM. As for how many Mhz (yea, I don't even have a Ghz, which is sad), I believe it's 650mhz? Or 750Mhz, I forget.

As for DirectX, I have either Version 8.1b or 9.0c, forget how to check that.

Anyways, I guess I could try updating my graphics. Not sure how I can check what's the latest update I've gotten on it.

Hope all this helps heh.

[Karyuu]

Oof.. is that a card with 16MB memory? If that's the case, unfortunately that falls way below the minimum requirements and the graphical problems might be there to stay. For more information on your card (or chipset) you can type "dxdiag" into your Run command and look at the Display tab there. "Approx. Total Memory" should tell you that bit, and on the same tab you can see your current driver version. You can try updating the driver from nvidia.com, but you really need at least 64MB of memory on your card for the game to work properly.

[LeoKmari]

Aw crap...Houston...we have a problem.  Tried installing updated Graphics Driver...and for some oddball reason, it doesn't find my friggin graphics chip on my computer, and it canceled the installation.  I strongly don't think that I've chosen the wrong driver. What I do know is that my computer is on the fritz, and has been having problems...=/ Mostly problems where it does this nasty crackling sound after awhile, and then immediately freezes and locks up, and needs to be turned off immediately improperly before it catches fire or something.  So yea, my computer hasn't been seeing much bright days. Reason why I'm on it right now to just test Planeshift before my PC decides to die for the night. =/

Anyways, any other suggestions? I remember seeing a thread about someone posting saying to change something in the config to correct the text problem, but I'm uncertain how to open the file. I would do it if I knew what program to use to open it with (whether I should use Notepad, or some kind of word program or a scrpt editting program).

[Karyuu]

Well, first I would prefer to know how much graphical memory you have, so that we can establish if that's the real problem right there ("dxdiag," Display tab, "Approx. Total Memory"). Overall though, your system sounds like it won't be able to take the load, processor speed included. For intensive 3D games like PlaneShift, you need to have something a bit faster all around.

PS: Please don't make multiple posts on the same problem, across several threads :] We're already helping you in this one.

[Nurahk]

750 mhz Athlon should be able to run it.

The Graphics card won't and you should look into the crackling sound.

[LeoKmari]

Ironically to say, I know my system doesn't meet the requirements, yet even though it's hard to read the text, I've made it to char creation, and strangely, the char selections and their graphics are ok (and it has a smooth frame rate when I rotate them, doesn't have any frame rate lag). Though the graphics do kinda remind me of the old-school graphics of EverQuest, my PC used to play EQ until they started updating all their graphics to the point my computer became unbearable for it.  Anyways, I strongly believe I can run this game. As for dxdiag, tried running it, for some stupid reason it just said that I have the latest up-to-date DirectX and that it doesn't need to be updated.

As for my graphics card, unfortunately, I still can't seem to find how much MB it has. =/

I could say though that my computer plays some old but decent games just fine (Black & White || Half-Life || Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition || Dungeon Siege || Warcraft III || Warlords Battlecry III || Serious Sam Gold || Etc.)

Yea...I'm a hardcore gamer you could say heh...though it may seem like I have alot of time on my hands, unfortunately, I do not. 

Anyways, I'll keep lookin for my graphics info. Yea my computer may be at the low-end to be running this game, but it seems that it could run it at a decent pace (I have MUonline on my computer and that game plays alright. You should check out their requirements, I thought I wasn't even gonna be able to play it). 

Whew, I type too much X_X Hope that helped abit. If you could lead me into the right direction as to where to look for the full info of my graphics card, I'd appreciate it. I can't seem to find the exact things I want on My Computer properties...

*edit*

750 mhz Athlon should be able to run it.

The Graphics card won't and you should look into the crackling sound.

Thanks Nurahk.  I know my PC should be able to run it. As for the crackling sound, I've already replaced my processor fan as well as cleaned out a crap load of dust that was crammed in the thing. As for the crackling, it hasn't stopped since I've replaced my processor fan, so I believe it may be my power supply unit, which wouldn't be good (cause that's the only other place I suspect the sound is coming from).

Please avoid posting two or more successive posts before others have replied. Just "Modify" your last post to add new information. Thanks! --Karyuu

[Karyuu]

Nice to see someone so determined Curious about the DirectX Dialog message. Normally when you type that in, what you see immediately after is something like:



Can you perhaps try installing the latest DirectX version once more?

(By the way, my system is top-notch and I still get crackling when I have sound enabled. It's not a system problem.)

[Nurahk]

PSUs aren't that expensive compared to most other electronics.

Try to find out if that is it and replace it if it is.

You don't want that screwing up.

(crackling I believe he means the sound of a fan hitting something...nothing to do with speakers)

Oh, on that note, check your wiring, maybe it's just your fan is hitting one of you wires...doubt it though

[LeoKmari]

Heh trust me, I know the difference between my computer having a constant moan, and an insanely loud crackling. =P When my computer starts the crackling, it freezes 2 seconds afterwards, have no time to properly shut down when I hear it, eveything freezes, including my mouse, and CTRL+ALT+DEL isn't an option (cause it doesn't work, and it's a nasty sound like something's scraping or killing a baby cat that's scratching the chalk board in your local school).

Anyways, aside from that (sorry for the double-post earlier, won't happen again, thanks for the tip).  I will try to update my DirectX, though I don't think it'll allow me to do so if I have the latest.  Wish me luck, I will get back with you momentarily on how it goes. ^_^

*EDIT* Latest Up-To-Date DirectX INSTALLED! ^_^ That's the good news...the bad news is I betcha it won't fix the text problem. =P But, I'm having high hopes that I'll be getting warmer and warmer until I get it fixed. It can't be graphics, it's just the text, that's all ^_^ It's GOTTA BE IT! =P

*Second EDIT* Well, tried it, text not fixed. I seriously think it has something to do with the resolution. I'd like to know what resolution everyone's using, and whether they're using Full Screen or Windowed Mode. Also, I didn't mention this earlier, but whenever I quit out of the game, I get this error message:

Microsoft Visual C++ Runetime Library
Runetime Error!
Program: C:\PROGRAM FILES\PLANESHIFT CRYSTAL BLUE\PSCLIENT.EXE
This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

*Ques - This is the part where Karyuu comes in* 

[Karyuu]

Any changes with the "dxdiag" input now? :}

[LeoKmari]

Oh yea, as for the DxDiag...same old, same old...=( Keeps sayin that I have the latest up-to-date DirectX blah blah blah, won't open up any window. 

*EDIT* Oh yea...modified last post, just in case you haven't noticed. Also, if it's possible, do you have any sort of instant messenger Karyuu? I have AIM and MSN. MSN is leodafleabag [AT] hotmail [DOT] com (yea yea, silly name, long story to it, was nick-named a flea bag on EverQuest cause I was a Vah Shir Beastlord heh). AIM is LeoDaFleaBag. It may be easier to possibly solve the problem quicker with instant messages, then once solved, I shall praise you, grovel at your feet, and never bother you for anything ever again. =) And if only my PayPal account had ABIT of money left in it, I would've donated it to Planeshift for the awesome game and good support. ^_^ Unfortunately I r poor.  But I greatly appreciate the help I'm getting so far. ^_^ You put SOE to utter shame. =P

Broke up email address - not a good idea to have it public for net spiders.

[Karyuu]

That exit message happens to pretty much everyone from time to time - it's a bug that has no fix at the moment, and has actually been around for a while. Since it doesn't interfere with gameplay directly however, it's rather low on the To-Fix List. When that error message pops up though, more often than not PlaneShift is still left running in your processes, so it's not a smooth exit. Open up your process list and kill psclient.exe - that's usually the way I exit all the time. I also believe that these graphical issues have nothing to do with your resolution and everything to do with your video card :P You might be able to see your video RAM during start-up (I'm forgetting how Win98 functions for the most part) or through your BIOS.

Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing, for curiousity's sake?

*edit* Save up money for a good graphics card, not PlaneShift donations! :P

[LeoKmari]

Ok, as stupid as this may sound, I know how to do alot of stuff, and yet, I still suck at uploading images lol.  Anyways, it's easy for me to show em on MSN Messenger. As for inserting them here, I know I could use the Insert Image button, but uh...I forget the command as to how to send the images lol. Do I type the directory path or something in between the 2 [img] thing? (yea, I feel like a newb when it comes to this). >_<

*EDIT* Don't need to save money for a new graphics card btw. Getting a completely new computer eventually soon from a friend of mine. ^_^ Just want to try Planeshift before then, cause it's still a loooonnnnggggg ways off before I see that PC.